Nothing.

A vast expanse of unknowable darkness.

I saw it. My feet may have even dangled towards its embrace. Tiny shards, the whole of my heart broken long ago, tumbled easily down the well. Perhaps I should have grasped for them. Perhaps they will …

Grims slung his rifle then bent to the body. Blood dribbled from the kid's mouth, but not much. Three shots center mass had assured the kid died quickly.

A little blood, but it was enough. The yips and yowls sounded closer. Death was on the air now, and …

Warmth spread through Malika like a breath of fresh air. She sucked air in sharply between her teeth. The sensation was almost painful. Heat spread through her, suffused her, warmed her on a level deeper than merely the physical. It coiled around her brok…

"You've got to stop yawning like that."

"I can't help it! I'm bored."

"Well, yawn any bigger and I'll be able to see out the other end."

"Ugh! You're gross. Keep your voice down."

"Why?

"Because the last thing I want is for everyone to remember me as the …

Polishing her well-fingered nails against a strip of garish colored sandpaper above the visor, Ossie tromped her best L'Oeil and went gangbusters, head for leather, on her hurtling passage of Rite. She would need no rite aid today!

Bucksnifter Lentilsgree…

Story is marked as mature

I don't know me now but I remember what I used to be. I was one of them, a super. Notice that I didn't say hero, though some people certainly thought of me as one. I was the Operator, named after the switchboard connectors of the first half of the twent…

I have erred.

Jeopardised my mission in a way I haven't for so very long. Cleaned it as well as I could, didn't I?

I did.

Yes I did.

No matter - they will find it, with their crime scene specialists and their Luminol and their databases and their traine…

Thinking of you.

A summer dream. Violently happy.

All the love... Absorbed in you, Oblivious.

One time, Red light means go.

Sudden death! Passenger.

Nobody’s fault but mine.

Oh, no!

Pray for me. Save me!

Roads: Relentless Reminder.

The family. The funera…

I saw you walking yesterday

The sun setting on your back

And as you ventured on your way

I noticed a lightness to your step

A happiness to your demeanor

Your strides were long and true

Not seeing where you were going

Or who you were walking to

Then I re…

When I try to picture a faultless face

I see smooth marble curving easily over defined musculature

The epitome of beauty, of strength

and I long to hold that perfect promise against my weathered features

But when my fingers reach that unmarred surface…

The tears flowed out of her. Years of pain, years of isolation, years of heartache, years of fear poured down her cheeks, soaking the bodice of her dress.

Nothing special had happened that day. Indeed, nothing special had happened that week. She had j…

A wholly imaginary girl appeared at the end of his desk as he typed. His mind immediately jumped to the word "girl" but she was in fact a "woman," by any real definition. He had just always thought of her as youth personified. A late teen for all eternity…

Story is marked as mature

"What has been lost can be found at Building Grachkin, Floor 60, Row 95, Shelf 7, Case 39 between 9:30 and 9:40 tomorrow morning."

The note was unsigned and apart from the location referred to, nothing on either side of the paper indicated its origin. I …

Story is marked as mature

Story is marked as mature

Malika tossed a glare at the Orthael. "Why?" she barked. "What has the All-mighty Flame ever done for me?" Her words were barbed and full of anger. Her shoulder throbbed, and she wanted nothing more than to be gone from this accursed place.

She paced o…

After standing alone for days in the emptiness of the Grey Room it was impossible not to notice the sudden presence; the sleeping body of a girl lying in a heap on the floor. Harold noticed too but stayed obediently by my side.

She opened her eyes. My he…

Raised voices from inside greeted his booted arrival announcement, but it took him a few seconds to realize that somehow no-one seemed to have heard him.

Grims paused, halfway up the porch steps, one foot raised - a pointer-dog parody.

Grims listened.

“W…

"This is Tonto. Anyone receiving, over?"

"Tonto, this is Sundance. Good to hear someone else on this freq, over."

"Likewise, Sundance. We're headed to Fort Benning to regroup. You have any news?"

"We're from Benning. The whole place is gone."

"..."

"…

Malika fled the village, passing scores of Lesser Dead as she did. Not one approached her, whether in fear of the destruction she had wrought just moments before or because they no longer deemed her a threat she didn't know.

Nor did she care. Her shoulde…

Story is marked as mature

"Are you," the oaf of a child paused for effect, "...in?"

Arlis shifted his weight. He eyed his would-be comrades, an assortment of boys he'd seen in the schoolhouse. Generally, he'd seen them in the back of the room, doing anything but pay attention. …

Malika stalked away, caring little if the Orthael followed. She had no care for her own life anymore. Everything she had ever known and cared about had been stripped from her in a single night. She cared only for her grim purpose now -- retribution upon t…